During the Cold War, we gathered information by listening to the Soviets, taking pictures of the Soviets, and we allowed our human intelligence to decline.
Most people don't know what goes on in the intelligence services. Certainly I had very little idea what went on in GCHQ. For me it was a job, a chance to use my languages.
Stealing someone's signals was a part of the game and everybody attempted to do that. We had people that always tried to steal signals.
The information that the intelligence people used was a combination of satellite information, signals intelligence, and human intelligence. We are not sure to what extent Saddam [Hussein] was trying to convey an incorrect picture to us.
The dragon is a very consistent symbol of secret satellite iconography and signals intelligence satellites.
Human intelligence trumps electronic or signals intelligence every time.
I worked for GCHQ, which stands for Government Communications Headquarters, and is the equivalent of the NSA here in the U.S.
There is a very real and critical danger that unrestrained public discussion of cryptologic matters will seriously damage the ability of this government to conduct signals intelligence and the ability of this government to carry out its mission of protecting national security information from hostile exploitation.
